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RESOLUTION No. 24/2003/QH11 OF NOVEMBER 26, 2003 ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM

Pursuant to the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which was amended and supplemented under Resolution No. 51/2001/QH10 of December 25, 2001 of the Xth National Assembly, the 10th session,

RESOLVES:

1. The Criminal Procedure Code was passed on November 26, 2003 by the XIth National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at the 4th session and shall take effect as from July 1, 2004.

This Criminal Procedure Code shall replace the Criminal Procedure Code passed on June 29, 1988 by the National Assembly and the laws amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Criminal Procedure Code, which were passed on June 30, 1990, December 22, 1992 and June 9, 2000 by the National Assembly.

2. The Government, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuracy shall, within the ambit of their respective functions and tasks, organize by themselves, or coordinate with the concerned agencies in organizing, the screening of current documents guiding the implementation of the Criminal Procedure Code in order to cancel, supplement, supplement them or promulgate new ones; propose the National Assembly and the National Assembly Standing Committee to cancel, amend, supplement them or promulgate new ones in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code, ensuring the effect of this Code as from July 1, 2004.

3. As from the effective date of the Criminal Procedure Code, those people's courts of rural districts, urban districts, provincial towns or cities and regional military courts which are eligible for implementation shall be vested with the new adjudicating jurisdiction defined in Clause 1, Article 170 of this Code. Those people's courts of rural districts, urban districts, provincial towns or cities and regional military courts which are not yet eligible shall perform the jurisdiction to conduct first-instance trial of criminal cases involving less serious offenses and serious offenses, excluding the offenses specified at Points a, b and c, Clause 1, Article 170 of this Code. Nevertheless, by July 1, 2009 at the latest, all the people's courts of rural districts, urban districts, provincial towns or cities and regional military courts shall uniformly perform their new jurisdiction defined in Clause 1, Article 170 of this Code.

Within the ambit of its tasks and powers, the Supreme People's Court shall coordinate with the Supreme People's Procuracy and the Government in proposing the National Assembly Standing Committee to decide which people's courts of rural districts, urban districts, provincial towns or cities and regional military courts may perform the new adjudicating jurisdiction defined in Clause 1, Article 170 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuracy and the Government shall, within the ambit of their respective functions and tasks, expeditiously consolidate the material bases and the contingent of officials of the investigating bodies, the procuracies and the courts of rural districts, urban districts, provincial towns and cities, the military investigating bodies of the levels lower than the military-zone level, the regional military procuracies and regional military courts which are not yet eligible for implementation so as to ensure that the people's courts of rural districts, urban districts, provincial towns and cities and the regional military courts perform uniformly their new adjudicating jurisdiction defined in Clause 1, Article 170 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

4. From the date the Criminal Procedure Code is promulgated to the date it becomes effective:

a/ For legally valid criminal judgments and decisions which were protested against according to the cassation procedures before the date the Criminal Procedure Code is promulgated but the review thereof has not yet been conducted, the cassation panels shall have the right to make decisions according to the provisions of Article 254 of the 1998 Criminal Procedure Code.

b/ For legally valid criminal judgments and decisions which were protested against according to the cassation procedures after the date the Criminal Procedure Code is promulgated, the cassation panels shall have the right to make decisions according to the provisions at Points 1, 2 and 3, Article 254 of the 1988 Criminal Procedure Code.

5. The Government, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuracy shall, within the scope of their respective functions and tasks, have to coordinate with the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee and the Front's member organizations in disseminating and popularizing widely this Criminal Procedure Code among officials and people in order to promote the effect of the Criminal Procedure Code in preventing and combating crimes in all State management domains and social life.

6. The National Assembly Standing Committee, the Government, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuracy have the responsibility to implement and guide the implementation of this Resolution.

This Resolution was passed on November 26, 2003 by the XIth National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at its 4th session.

Chairman of the National Assembly
NGUYEN VAN AN